Carried Away
by DN 111
Summary: "I will sign the paper on one condition," she hesitated. "Will you do one last thing for me? Can you just carry me to bed the way you did on our wedding night?" And he nodded... Sometimes, it was the little and unnecessary things, such as cheesy intimate routines, that helps keeping a marriage together. But Sesshoumaru learned the lesson a little too late.


_**Disclaimer: **_So this is a one shot story adapted from an old romantic story that has been circulating around the internet for about 10 years. It was told to originate and has gain popularity in Asia in the early days. I first read it in my language when a friend posted it on Facebook a few years ago, and I recently found an English version of it. You can find more of it at the link provided in the author note.

Alright guys, this is my first one-shot.

…

**Carried Away**

"_Kagome, you've been so quiet and inspirited lately. What's wrong?" Sesshoumaru asked, concern engraving his deep voice. _

"_Nothing really… Annoying students' been getting on my nerve lately… Work problems, so I easily got tired and frustrated," she answered, her soft voice droning as she added a pout. _

_He sighed, "Make sure to take your meds and check back with the doctor soon."_

_Her chest tightened painfully as she silently observed the cool expression on her dear husband's handsome face. Keeping her emotion in check, Kagome trailed off toward the bathroom. She wasn't entirely sure when their silent cold war had started, and she wanted to scream, to cry and kick him. But all she could do was watching her own reflection as quiet sobs wracked though her trembling form. _

_That cold, calm look on his face, she knew… Her persistent depression was wearing his patience thin. She was obviously not improving and there was nothing he could do that would help. And her problem just kept infecting their relationship, corrupting it as it metastasized._

…

"_Hey, welcome back. How was work?" his wife, with bushy hair and bed face, greeted him from her lounging position on the couch. _

"_Awful," he curtly replied knowing that saying too much would probably give his secret away._

_She sauntered toward the kitchen, "If you have already eaten, still have some crab soup. It's still warm." She pop the bowl in the microwave, "And Sesshoumaru? I have something to tell you later."_

"_Oh thanks, I will eat it after the shower," he replied before taking in gulps of cold water. Putting the cup down on the kitchen table, he turned to see a rigid Kagome looking at him stricken. It was then he knew that she wasn't so ignorant anymore._

_Her deep brown eyes boring holes into his golden ones and she commented coolly in disgust, "Smell like women perfume."_

_He watched guiltily in silence as her hand let the soup bowl clank loudly onto the table and she brushed passed him in a heartbeat. _

"_Didn't you want to tell me something?" He asked anyway, testing his luck._

"_Nah, nothing important," her voice indifferent, and she disappeared up the staircases._

_He saw the anger swirling dangerously in her dark chocolate eyes. The perfume irked her, right? Yet, why didn't she confront him? And what was it that she wanted to tell him?_

…_.._

…_.._

"Was your headache getting better?" he asked in a tone she wasn't sure if he really cared.

"Yeah, the meds helps a lot," Kagome responded, watching her husband setting his suitcase onto the coffee table. She watched him fishing out a large golden envelope and waited patiently. She already knew what it was.

"Kagome, I… I really hope you would understand…. I'd like to have your consent," he asked, sounding slightly intimidated and she disliked the hesitation in his stuttering voice so much. It didn't suit him.

"I know, it should be fine," she interrupted him softly, gathering any remaining shreds of courage within her body.

He placed the envelope in between them, the title _Divorce Paper _boldly printed on the front.

"I'm so sorry," he confessed gently.

"No, I'm sorry I couldn't have been a better wife for you… I couldn't make you happy" she managed to verbalize the broken words between restrained sobs.

He shook his head then, silently pleading for forgiveness, "You can have this house and half my shares in the company."

No she cared none of that. She knew it was selfish of her to ask him such a strange and disturbing favor. But she just couldn't help it. This was her last chance. It was either now or never.

"Will you do one last thing for me?"

"Yes," his deep baritone voice firm and beautiful.

"During the few months of the process… can you carry me to bed at night whenever you're home?" she requested, looking down on table in front of her. "I meant, you can sleep with whomever or wherever you want, but… can you just put me to bed the way you did on our wedding night?"

She looked up at him then. The silence after her spoken words felt like eternity. He nodded.

….

He didn't know if it was her haunting red eyes or her small feminine form that stir such strong, unbidden feeling within him. But here he was.

The first night he carried her to bed, it was quite clumsy and comical, because it had been so long since they last did anything so romantically cheesy. So that went awkwardly.

The second night, he began to remember how beautifully she had fitted in his arms in her white chiffon dress. It dawned on him that the past few months of their marriage had severely lacked intimacy. But then again, he was out there planting young love half of that time already.

After the first few times he carried Kagome, he noticed how much stronger he had gotten for she seemed lighter. It was rather an effortless routine now. He never stayed long, touches never lingered, since it was clear in the beginning that this was all she required of him. Their contract.

And then, almost every night, her slender arms would circle around his neck, her head rested on his chest as he silently carried her to bed in bridal style. The shame and the guilt were slowly eating him. Being close to her again, watching her long eyelashes fluttered, feeling her beating heart so close to him, stir indescribable feeling inside.

He noticed how her hair had gotten longer. Her facial features no longer held that bright and mischievous look. It hit him painfully how this whole ordeal must have been hurting her.

He realized then, it wasn't his arms that got stronger, but it was Kagome who had gotten much skinnier. And his chest burned. All previous blame on his dull and depressed wife disappeared. It was his entire fault that he had neglected the details in their marriage life.

…..

Sesshoumaru pecked Kagome on the forehead and decided to sleep next to her, in their bed that day. She was still dead quiet as always. They barely ever talked. Though, perhaps tomorrow, or the day after that, it would be natural again to sleep with her cuddled in his arms.

He drove to his girlfriend's place after work. With mind unclouded and decision cleared, he told the woman of his affair that he would continue his marriage. And so they broke up.

He stopped by the florist, bought a large bundle of colorful peonies. He also picked out a dark chocolate cake from the most expensive bakery in town. Sesshoumaru, for the first time in a long time, allowed himself a smile of satisfaction. He was sure she would be ecstatic at the sight of her favorite cake. He would apologize tonight and everything will be fine again.

The lock turned and Sesshoumaru stepped in with much anticipation. He looked around the house and Kagome was nowhere to be found. Fear stole his heart as he looked at the golden manila envelope on the coffee table. With a quick tear, the rough binding was loose, revealing the white page on top…. neatly signed with his wife's signature. His heart was beating so fast, it threatened to jump out of his rib cage.

Shuffling through the documents he found a hand-written letter:

"_Dear, _

_It just arrived in the post this morning, so I proceeded to finish my part of the deal. Thank you so much for being understanding and patient with me during the past few weeks. It made me feel young and loved again, and I really appreciated it. I already booked a tour in Europe. Gods, I'm so excited for this trip, I have wanted to go there in like forever. I will be sending postcards to you all. _

_See you in a few months. _

_Love, Kagome."_

And just like that, he kept the letter on his desk in his office. The signed divorce documents already shoved away in one of the drawers. She asked him to keep her boxed belongings in storage, but he began to unpack them instead, putting items back to where they were the night before. He really wanted to fly over there, find her and accompany her. But he thought that perhaps, this trip would help her find herself again, ease her mind and cure her on-going depression. And time would probably help her forgive him.

…

Her first postcard was exclusive with an attachment of her own picture at a scene in the Palace of Versailles. She was wearing a knitted hat and navy petticoat, her wavy hair down and her vibrant face smiling contently.

Her second postcard was a picture of her posing in front of the Colosseum in Rome. She looked really skinny and he regretted not being able to see her face up-close, since the photographer obviously tried to capture Kagome within the whole architecture.

In the third one, she was munching on a sandwich as she trailed along Charles Bridge in Prague. She wasn't looking at the camera, but he could see side of her face. And he didn't like the sharpness of her cheekbone.

It's been six months, and he missed her so bad. It had become a routine for him to take out the cards and look at her for hours on end. What had taken her so long? Just go back already.

…..

…

…..

…..

…..

….

…..

…..

…..

Bzz….

Bzz…. Bzzz… Lazily reaching for his phone, Sesshoumaru noticed the caller ID. It was Souta, Kagome's little brother. Golden eyes widened in surprise.

"Hello, Souta. What's up?"

"Kagome is back. I was wondering if you might want to see her," the younger man sounded just like the way he was when Sesshoumaru last spoke to him. Though, his tone and voice was somewhat much more matured and foreign.

"Oh really? Thanks, I will be heading over," he replied.

And they hung up.

…..

The 86 stone steps to the shrine was nothing comparing to the torturous six months. Sesshoumaru was at the front door of the Higurashi's house in minutes.

"Hi," he stepped in, noticing how the grandpa and her mom was nowhere in sight...

Looking around, he spotted a framed picture of Kagome in the middle of the main table. She was smiling and it was cute and beautiful beyond words. But there was something strange about it. The picture was pale, blue-ish in color, and only captured her portray from the shoulder up.

A sudden breeze of air hit him cold, leaving him shivered and lost. He oddly looked back at the picture that was strangely propped up in the middle of the table.

He heard sobs and his mother-in-law emerged into the living room.

"What's wrong? Where is she?" He asked as anxiety and fear gripped his guts, drawing blood, his voice frantic.

The woman wasn't able to formulate words. It was useless.

Souta placed a round blue jar, the size of Kagome's largest tea mug, onto the table, and he uttered, "Here."

The world outside him ceased to spin.

"What? Why?" Sesshoumaru was so lost and they were scaring the shit out of him. _You got to be kidding me._

"She's gone, Sesshoumaru-nee. We thought you knew," the young man began to look at his brother-in-law, confusion evident on his face.

Silence….

"She has glioblastoma multiforme, they said. It's a brain tumor known to come and go really fast. She had little time to have it treated," Souta explained, tears was rimming his eyes then. He watched the frozen Sesshoumaru standing as if struck by lightning.

"She told us she wanted to travel by herself before the light knock her out. She told us you knew about it. She told us you were accompanying her. She told us she had you by her side. She told us…." His voice broke off as the tears caught up in his nasal. It was then his confusion was cleared up: her remaining was sent back to them by mail, not because Sesshoumaru already left Europe, but because she was alone the entire time. His stormy black eyes looked up accusingly at his brother-in-law.

"That's not true. Kagome's not dead. I just received her postcard from King Cross Station the other day," the older man spoke after a long while. His voice loud and deep as he coldly looked at Souta.

Sesshoumaru doesn't know what to think anymore, his brain couldn't function properly. It was just so sudden and unbelievable. His beloved wife couldn't have been dead. He had so much planned a head for the both of them. When she comes back, he was going to let her know how much he loved her. Then they would make children the year after. They would grow old together… _So much…_

She was probably just enjoying the Western sky too much. But she will go back to him, to their house, soon… _because she has to. Dammit_.

He eyed the brother and the weeping mother with an icy, foreign look, before turning on his heels to go back to his home.

Their home.

_Kagome, where are you? Come back already…._

…

And so, Sesshoumaru waited. It was months and months of anxious and restless waiting. He received a few more postcards from her for the following months. And he kept reassuring himself, _see? She will be back, healthy and happy. She could be back anytime now._ He would go on for days without sleep only to be knocked out naturally. Each continuing day was agonizing.

It was getting cold again, almost a year since she left. His fear of reality simmering within his subconscious started to resurface at high intensity. He couldn't go to work for the past weeks. He just sat at home, waiting for the mailman.

He received another postcard that day. His hand shook as he fumbled to find the writing.

"I hope all went well for you and your new wife. But yeah, I won't be seeing you again. It's so pretty here that I think I will live and die here. Love, Kagome" was all it read.

His chest constricted painfully. His throat clogged and his nose stung as he flipped to the other side of the piece to see a sadly smiling Kagome sitting on a bench. Her eye sockets slightly hollow, her skin pale as snow, her cheek bones sharp and tall, and her hair short. And he remembered,

…

"_Ah, these freaking headaches!"_

…

"_Kagome, take your meds."_

…

"…_.The doc said I have depression."_

…

"_Leave me alone Sesshoumaru, it's just another fucking migraine."_

…

"…_Sesshoumaru, I have something to tell you later."_

…

"…_Will you carry me to bed?"_

…

_She has gotten so much skinnier…_

…

"_Thank you, Sesshoumaru."_

…

Boiling hot liquid spilled down his cheeks then. He collapsed onto his knees, clutching the postcard tightly in his palm. His chest hurt so much he could barely breathe. He began to hit his head onto the wall, each blow was slow and deliberate. He mumbled incoherent sentences to himself. _No, I don't have a new wife. You were all what I have ever wanted and ever needed… Please… stop doing this…. Please, just come back to me…_

How terrible it must have been for her to live her dying day thinking that she was unwanted, thinking that he was happy with another… _My Gods….. _And why was he not by her side when was fighting tooth and nail with the cursed tumor?

Gone, she was really gone this time.

He recalled the last time he had seen her, it was that fateful morning when he drove to work and the paper from the court came. He tried to remember when they last kissed, and he found none. Nothing. It was such a distant past.

His sobs grew louder and incontrollable in pattern as the remaining of his heart slowly chipped away.

He really, really wanted to see her. Perhaps he should wait a little bit more.

…..

A few weeks later, there was a single gunshot heard in the neighborhood. An ambulance and some police cars began to crowd and wail in front of the grand mansion. They found a partially-eaten chocolate cake surrounded by a bunch of wine bottles on the coffee table.

And the cake had been expired for almost a year.

_The end_

_**A/N:**_

I don't know about you, but this story made me cry. The scenario was quite real and didn't seem so be far-fetching to me at all. I really tried to tweak it so that it seems more plausible and logical than the original story. The original one can be found here, .

Q&A: Sesshoumaru wouldn't have known she has been seeing the cancer doctor, because the billing system was pretty much all electronic, so no mailed bills.

Review and tell me what you think! Oh and come read my other stories too!


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